Winter Tactical Excercise
by Lucinda
Summary: Logan has an idea to chase away the students winter blah's, and he needs Ororo's help to make it work.
1. Winter Tactical Exercise

Author: Lucinda

rating: pg

Movie-verse, general/humor. not couple-based.

Main Characters: Logan, Ororo, appearances by other students.

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone that has appeared in the pages of Marvel Comics or on screen in the X-Men movie.

Logan was lurking in a corner, a newspaper opened in front of him as a feeble defense against talking to people. The paper shielding him from being forced to talk to people, he watched the students at Xavier's. They seemed to be healthy, and there was a current lull in the winter flu rounds, but everyone was still pretty much moping. They were shuffling around the school grounds looking bored, muttering complaints about the dreary cold weather and drizzling rain. He could also tell that it was bothering most of the staff, including the X-Men. He hid a small smile at the thought of the X-Men: with the exception of himself, they were all Xavier's special protegees, trained to use their mutations to try to help people. They didn't seem to have any idea how to react to the current mood of the students.

He wasn't entirely certain what to do yet either, but he felt the need to try. When he'd come back from his search of the abandoned facility at Alkali Lake, having found only empty halls and deep gouges in the walls, he had felt at a loss, without purpose. Xavier had invited him to stay, and made him an instructor, teaching self-defense and outdoor tactics. He hadn't been certain if he should thank Xavier, slip away into the night, or collapse laughing. He was an instructor now? But that meant that he had a measure of responsibility for the students, and it was something that sat awkwardly on his shoulders. It did however, give him the feeling that he'd never been a teacher before.

It had given him the chance to learn more about the people that his life depended on in missions. Scott still needed to work on a sense of humor, and spent far too much time worrying about everything, but he was a fairly good tactician, and did his best to keep his people alive and intact. He was also serious about Jean, and seemed like the sort who would take care of her to the best of his abilities. Jean was rather stuck on Scott, and was actually a pretty good doctor, patching up scraped students and gunshot X-Men with equal skill and confidence. He still wasn't entirely comfortable with the fact that she was a telepath; it just made him twitchy to hear someone's voice in his mind, to know that even his own thoughts weren't entirely private. Then there was Ororo. He'd underestimated her when he was first here, dismissing her as little more than an idealist with a pretty face. Okay, maybe more than pretty, and definitely more than just her face, but he hadn't taken the time to learn much of anything about her.

She had a rather colorful and occasionally tragic past. Her parents had died in a collapsing building, and she'd been trapped with their bodies for several days. Then, she'd been left to fend for herself on the streets, becoming a thief to survive. At least until she went out into the desert, discovered her ability to call rain, and was worshipped as a goddess. Then, she'd given up all of that to follow Xavier and risk her life trying to help people that didn't want help. It was amazing.

'They call me Storm because I can control the weather.' Her words echoed inside his mind. She could control the weather... there was a lot of potential there, for far more than calling up a screen of fog. He dropped the paper, inspiration hitting him. He was certain that he had a solution for the winter blah feeling that had swept through the students like a sluggish and non-fatal epidemic. His plan depended on two things, Ororo's cooperation, and the fact that he was in charge of teaching the students to defend themselves in all sorts of outdoor conditions. He was smiling as he left to search out Ororo.

Eventually, he found her in the history room, staring at a pile of papers with a red pen in one hand. She looked almost as bored as most of the students were. The other hand was running through her hair, perhaps some sort of old habit?

"I need to talk to you." His voice seemed to startle her from her thoughts.

She had jumped a bit, and the pen had fallen to the desk. Looking at him with widened blue eyes, Ororo sighed slightly. "Logan... you startled me. What did you need to talk about?"

Walking into the room, he leaned against her desk, just at the edge of her personal space. "I have a plan to get the kids out of this moping rut. Thing is, it all depends on you."

Her eyes were sparkling, and there was a small smile as she looked at him. "How am I necessary to this plan? What exactly is your plan?"

"Half of their problem is boredom, and another chunk is that they've been complaining about the weather being all cold and dreary. That's where my plan comes in, and since Xavier made me in charge of teaching them to work in all sorts of conditions... What I'll tell them is that they need to practice tracking and evading trackers in the snow, which is where you come in. I need you to make it snow, a good three or four inches, with maybe a little drifting. The snow needs to be a little bit damp, not too powdery." His eyes had taken on an anticipatory gleam as he spoke.

Ororo considered his words. "Logan, if you take the students outside in three inches of snow, they won't be thinking about training, they will probably try to have a snowball fight or something."

Chuckling slightly, he nodded. "Exactly. Plan is to divide them into two groups, and turn them loose to throw snowballs at each other. But they don't need to know that's the plan. It'll make them feel better if they think they're sneaking in their fun on what's supposed to be a lesson."

"You want me to make it snow so that you can send the children out to chase each other around the grounds throwing snowballs at each other?" She was almost laughing now.

"That sums it up." He grinned at her. "Should cheer them up a lot."

She couldn't help it, and started laughing. She was laughing so hard that sparkling tears rolled down her face. "Ohh... and they'll think you don't want them to... snowballs... and... So much for no sense of humor..."

He grinned, enjoying the sound of her laughter. "So does that mean that you'll help me?"

"Absolutely. But how will you explain this as an educational exercise?" She had managed to stop laughing, but her eyes were still sparkling with amusement.

"This will be an exercise in operating under winter conditions. They will practice evading pursuit and tracking people in the snow, and there may be careful use of mutant abilities and non-damaging thrown missiles. I've scheduled the whole morning on Saturday for this, so as not to interfere with their academic classes. Students will be divided into teams by drawing pebbles, one team white pebbles, and the other team red pebbles. I'll have Jean monitoring in case of any accidents requiring medical assistance." He managed to make his voice sound gruff and serious, but his eyes were still twinkling.

"It sounds so serious that way. Does Jean know that she's monitoring?"

"I already scheduled an exercise, but all I said was that it was for outdoors, and it would involve tracking practice. Scott told me not to be too hard on the kids." He was grinning again.

She waited until Friday morning for the snow to begin falling, large fluffy bits of white falling from the sky. There was a gentle breeze, enough to encourage slow drifting, but not enough that there would be places scoured almost bare while others held drifts over a man's head. The falling snow continued unabated through the day, eventually tapering off during the night to intermittent flurries. She had smiled to hear students looking out the windows, excited about the snow, or simply admiring the way that it made everything sparkle and softened the landscape.

When the students were reminded that their Saturday morning had been claimed by Logan for one of his 'Tactical Exercises', there was such a collection of groans and whimpers that it was astonishing. Someone was muttering about 'normal classes and schools get snow-days' and about Logan being a tyrant. However, everyone gathered in the front hall, dressed in winter coats and hats, with gloves or mittens, scarves, snow boots, and all sorts of winter clothing, with the single exception of Bobby Drake, who was simply dressed in a long sleeved tee shirt and a pair of jeans, his mutation making the snowy day as comfortable and safe to him as anyone else would find a warm spring afternoon. They were shuffling slightly, trying to figure out what they would be doing this time.

Logan sauntered towards them, one hand holding a clay pot filled with milky white pebbles and rusty red pebbles, shifting slightly and rattling as he moved. "Here's the instructions. You will each draw a pebble from the jar, that pebble will determine if you are one of the team hiding, or the team pursuing."

Some of the students groaned again, remembering some of the other team exercises that Logan had done. He seemed to think that it was good for them to be chased through the forest. At least there wouldn't be any biting insects this time.

"I heard that. Now, I will not be on either team this time. The purpose of this is to give you practice working in snow, to work on hiding your tracks and following people. If you are on the white team, the people hiding, you may prepare traps and diversions for your pursuers, and you may use your mutations if you can do so in a way that will not cause serious damage to the other students. If you are on the red team, the hunters, you may use your mutant abilities to track, and to try to capture the other team. You are not to try to injure the other students. The exercise lasts three hours. Everyone come up and get your pebble, try to keep the pebbles with you."

As the students began to collect their pebbles, curious and excited murmurs began to fill the hall. Ororo was watching from the staircase, smiling as she saw the blah feelings slip away. It seemed that Logan's idea would work after all.

Several hours later, the students had all returned to the mansion, laughing and smiling. They were talking about their morning with glee, words of fantastic snow forts and massive snowball fights. Jubilee had discovered that careful dispersal of her fireworks could melt the top layer of the snow fort, which could then refreeze into hard ice, nearly impenetrable to mere snowballs. They had chased each other, nearly buried several students in volleys of snowballs and a sudden shower of telekinetically thrown snow, and enjoyed their selves immensely. The rest of the faculty were waiting inside, with steaming mugs of hot cocoa and spiced apple cider.

It had been a very successful morning all around. Ororo smiled at Logan, pleased with the results of his plan, and delighted that she had helped.

end story.


	2. A Mug of Hot Cocoa

author: Lucinda

rating: pg/pg 13

main characters: Ororo, Logan

sequel to Winter Tactical Exercise.

disclaimer: Nobody from Marvel belongs to me.

distribution: please ask first.

The snow ball fight disguised as a tactical exercise had been a success. Not only were all of the students in better moods, so were many of the teachers. And since none of the students seemed to realize that the real point had been for them to have fun, they had kept scheduling them. 'Tracking and evading in winter conditions' indeed, they were good for the students, even if they just provided some activity.

Of course, the fact that the snow conditions could be scheduled made things so much easier... And Ororo was delighted to cooperate with the plans. She found it beneficial to practice in such a manner, to accomplish something precisely controlled, yet taken for the random acts of nature.

"I am very glad you had this idea, Logan. Everyone is in a better mood, and the experiences have been... educational." She settled beside him on the couch, a soft smile on her lips.

He smiled at her, a small one, but still... Logan was not a man well known for good cheer. "Like I said... too much sitting still. I picked up the cocoa for this weekend's session. Even some of those add in things you mentioned. Cinnamon drops and peppermint canes, and more marshmallows than any one man should see at one time."

Cinnamon drops... oh, she loved cinnamon in her cocoa. "Logan, you are wonderful." She wasn't quite certain what made her give in to the impulse, but she leaned over, kissing him on the cheek before leaving the room, her cheeks feeling far to warm. At least it was harder for people to tell if she was blushing than Jean, or Marie.

She blushed all the way to her room, feeling oddly like a school girl trying to puzzle out a crush. But that was ridiculous. She was a grown woman, not a silly child, and she did not get crushes. Really, she did NOT.

Except that... maybe she had. It was a bit hard to tell. At the age when the other females here had been learning about crushes and boys and making their first steps into the dating world, she had been a half starved street thief, and then a solitary traveler, and then a remote goddess. She knew how to deal with respect, and with fear, but... this was entirely different. And baffling.

Logan wasn't the most handsome man that she'd ever seen - actually, she could make a good sized list of men whose features were more perfect, more sensual, more refined. And while there weren't many men that she'd encountered in better shape, Logan was far from the first well muscled man that she'd seen. But there was something about him, a presence, a vitality and intensity that he brought to life... It captured her attention, dragged her in, forced her to notice him.

He gave a first impression of being little more than a cranky fighter, hostile and defensive towards the whole world. But then, if you got to know a bit more about him... he had amazing depths of caring, of unexpected compassion, like the way he'd taken responsibility for Marie, helping her when she'd been no more than a would be stow-away in his truck. He would sit and listen to some of the students, the ones that had been hurt and abused, the ones who would be silent and subdued around Scott, or Jean, or the Professor. However violent his fighting might be, Logan wouldn't hurt children.

Logan knew what happened inside the school, knew who was dating who, the right culprits if there had been a prank or small theft, the people most likely to skip class. Maybe it was his hearing, but... he also knew which students were most likely to have nightmares, who would want a bit more reassurance about the school being safe.

He was the most puzzling, contradictory, frustrating man that she'd ever encountered. And she'd been wondering what it would be like to kiss him. He slipped into her thoughts, not literally, but... something would catch her attention, and it would remind her of him. Wasn't that a crush?

By the time Saturday morning arrived, the students once again bundled up to go throw snow balls at each other... errr... practice their winter tactics, that is, she still had no idea what to do about Logan. The only thing that she'd been able to make a firm decision about was that yes, she did feel... something for Logan. Some baffling, frustrating sense of attraction, of interest. An attraction that made her aware of him, granted him passage into her dreams, made her wonder what it would be like to kiss him.

Ororo still felt confused by the situation. Yes, there was an attraction - on her side. But, would he be interested in a relationship? Did she even want to try a relationship with Logan? What if... But considering all of the 'what if's got her nowhere.

She would ensure that there were no last minute adjustments to make for the weather, and then she would make sure that the cocoa was ready for when the students got back. She didn't quite look at Logan the whole time. Well, she kept stealing little glances, but there was no eye contact. Eventually, he went out to check on the students, to make sure they were behaving close enough to alright.

"I must regain control over these... feelings. Before they lead to trouble." She hoped that this wasn't the prelude to disaster.

He came back inside, slipping through the door and moving across the carpet so quietly that she didn't realize that he was there until she smelled the cocoa. Or maybe she had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't heard him. He was holding two mugs of steaming cocoa, one dark grey, the other sky blue with flowers on it.

"Pick a mug... your cinnamon's over there." His voice sounded... almost friendly.

With a small smile, she picked up the grey mug, adding a few of the cinnamon candies to it to add that extra bit of flavor, that added suggestion of warmth. "Thank you, Logan."

He just gave a small grin, and an almost laugh. He set the flowered mug down for a moment, unwrapping a candy cane to stir into his cocoa. "You're welcome, 'Ro. Always."

For a while, they just sat there, sipping at the hot cocoa, the warmth soaking into their hands. She looked up, sensing him right beside her, and there he was, with just a tiny bit of marshmallow caught on his lip. She couldn't help herself, she had to kiss him.

Cinnamon met peppermint in an almost fiery tasting battle, mingling, swirling, propelled by lips and tentatively touching tongues. The flavors clinging to teeth and lips... She could almost feel herself melting into his arms...

There was a sound at the door, someone bumping it, the stamping of many student feet. Startled, she pulled back, looking at Logan with eyes filled with questions. "We... what was..."

"I always thought it was called a kiss." His words were low, to soft to carry farther than the small space between them.

She looked at her mug, emotions churning inside her. This... this changed things. Everything that she thought she'd figured out had been scattered, and she was left unbalanced, uncertain. "But... why? I thought..."

"Maybe you think too much. Maybe you should just... be." There was something in his eyes, intense, primal.

The door opened, spilling students into the room, and a somewhat damp, unhappy looking Scott. Traces of snow still clung to his shoulders and visor. The students swarmed towards the tables, gathering cocoa, adding marshmallows, cinnamon, peppermint...

"What were you two doing, anyhow? They had this... giant snow-ball fight." Scott didn't sound very amused, but then... it looked as if he'd found the snow-ball fight by stumbling into the line of fire.

"We were drinking cocoa, Scott." Logan's words were true enough, but somehow... they pulled away all of the confusion, left out the kiss that had somehow changed everything.

Ororo smiled, realizing then that while she most certainly didn't know where this was going, it looked like she would have time to figure it out. "Logan? Perhaps... we could have another cup tomorrow?"

"I'd like that, darlin'. I even got some more of those cinnamon drops for you."

Oh yes... she would need time to figure this out. But she intended to enjoy every baffling moment of it.

end Mug of Hot Cocoa


End file.
